Coupons can be used as a form of information item to induce a potential customer to purchase a product or service. For example, the information item may be framed as a promotional offer that involves providing a product or service at a discounted price and this can be represented in the form of a coupon having a coupon code. The coupon code may be used by the entity making the promotional offer to validate the coupon.
Some coupons may be made available on a website, from which the coupons may be printed for physical presentation of the coupon at a retail establishment or, in some instances, for presentation when making an online purchase of a product or service to which the coupon applies.
In displaying information items on a website, users navigating to the site may enjoy a better user experience if they are able to view information items for which the reliability or efficacy has had some previous endorsement, either in the positive or negative sense.